The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Barberry plant, botanically known as Berberis thunbergii and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘O'Byrne’.
The new Barberry plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Eugene, Oreg. The new Barberry plant originated from a cross-pollination conducted by the Inventor during the spring of 2003 of Barberry thunbergii ‘Aurea’, not patented, as the female, or seed parent and Barberry thunbergii ‘Rose Glow’, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Barberry plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor during the spring of 2004 as a single plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Eugene, Oreg.
Asexual reproduction of the new Barberry plant by softwood cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Eugene, Oreg. since July, 2004 has shown that the unique features of this new Barberry plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.